After being left breathless by the second film in the saga, (also reviewed) I looked forward to seeing the third. Learning that the 3rd was the first of a two parter,I got set to vote for a viewing, via proxy.
View on the film:
Backed by detailed extras interviewing cast/crew looking back at the film, Arrow present a wonderful transfer, with the print retaining a film grain whilst the image remains clean, and the soundtrack being played smooth.
With the studio having made clear when part 2 was being made that they actually wanted this title to be the second entry (!) Bringing the returning Hirono up the ladder in the bubbling build up to a all-out war, and revealing later that he had at first felt daunted about writing a script based on the real underworld war taking place in Hiroshima City,returning screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara noticeably makes this the most dialogue-heavy of the trio, which allows for the terrific warring gangster punch-ups to be blended with a psychological warfare, with Hirono moving from being the isolated wild one of the first film, to attempting to navigate the creation of a alliance with one of the two biggest families.
Giving Hirono the false hope of a honourable deal having been made, Kasahara continues the major theme running across the films of the sense of heroic and loyal outlaws, being smashed as a façade image, where each time a deal is made between the feral gangs, the next day it cuts into a bloodbath across the streets, leading Kasahara striking Hirono with a hard-hitting ending,where last rites are performed on any type of deal.
Laying out all the factions and families fighting to the death, auteur director Kinji Fukasaku & cinematographer Sadaji Yoshida neatly take the Japanese New Wave (JNW) freeze frames and jump-cuts that had been used for shoot-outs in the first two, and twists them as a way to intelligently establish each of the group in a compact way.
Getting told by the police that his dipictions of real life gangster killings was giving the city "A bad image", Fukasaku responds by upping the excellent fluidity of the JNW whip-pans, thanks to Fukasaku giving each gang the appearance of attack dogs, who the camera rushes towards to see them tear their prey to shreds. Sitting in on discussions between the gangs, Fukasaku ignites a refined Neo-Noir atmosphere of elegant wide-shots and sharp-zoom close-ups,hanging on every line being drawn in the proxy war.
View on the film:
Backed by detailed extras interviewing cast/crew looking back at the film, Arrow present a wonderful transfer, with the print retaining a film grain whilst the image remains clean, and the soundtrack being played smooth.
With the studio having made clear when part 2 was being made that they actually wanted this title to be the second entry (!) Bringing the returning Hirono up the ladder in the bubbling build up to a all-out war, and revealing later that he had at first felt daunted about writing a script based on the real underworld war taking place in Hiroshima City,returning screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara noticeably makes this the most dialogue-heavy of the trio, which allows for the terrific warring gangster punch-ups to be blended with a psychological warfare, with Hirono moving from being the isolated wild one of the first film, to attempting to navigate the creation of a alliance with one of the two biggest families.
Giving Hirono the false hope of a honourable deal having been made, Kasahara continues the major theme running across the films of the sense of heroic and loyal outlaws, being smashed as a façade image, where each time a deal is made between the feral gangs, the next day it cuts into a bloodbath across the streets, leading Kasahara striking Hirono with a hard-hitting ending,where last rites are performed on any type of deal.
Laying out all the factions and families fighting to the death, auteur director Kinji Fukasaku & cinematographer Sadaji Yoshida neatly take the Japanese New Wave (JNW) freeze frames and jump-cuts that had been used for shoot-outs in the first two, and twists them as a way to intelligently establish each of the group in a compact way.
Getting told by the police that his dipictions of real life gangster killings was giving the city "A bad image", Fukasaku responds by upping the excellent fluidity of the JNW whip-pans, thanks to Fukasaku giving each gang the appearance of attack dogs, who the camera rushes towards to see them tear their prey to shreds. Sitting in on discussions between the gangs, Fukasaku ignites a refined Neo-Noir atmosphere of elegant wide-shots and sharp-zoom close-ups,hanging on every line being drawn in the proxy war.